Officials from Microsoft and TV white spaces technology company Adaptrum called the FCC about outstanding questions on the use of the white spaces for broadband. The companies met last week with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and others at the FCC. “We discussed the need to resolve the Channel 37 and Database Accuracy proceedings as soon as possible to provide regulatory certainty for all involved,” said a filing in docket 16-56 by ex-Commissioner Robert McDowell on a meeting that included Adaptrum CEO Haiyun Tang. They sought "regulatory certainty regarding the available spectrum for rural broadband to foster continued investment and increased participation in the Rural Airband Initiative” by Microsoft.
The owner of Wyoming wireless ISP Lariat met aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr on objections to the Connect America Fund Phase II fixed broadband subsidy auction. Brett Glass said the FCC is planning to auction off census tracts that Lariat and other WISPs serve. “Needlessly subsidizing the overbuilding of small, rural ISPs such as my own would, in fact, harm broadband deployment by driving some of us out of business,” Glass said last week in docket 10-90. The more than 5,000 U.S. WISPs “would be unduly burdened by the redundant task of becoming telephone companies, arranging interconnection, filling out the vast amount of additional paperwork required to become a 19th Century-style telephone company, and spending thousands of dollars per year to conform to the regulatory requirements applicable to such companies when so many good alternatives already existed,” he said.
The rollout of 5G in the U.S. could mean as many as 3 million jobs, including 50,000 construction jobs per year while deployment is in progress, said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in remarks Monday at a Jackson State University workforce development roundtable, hosted by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Carr said the U.S. needs to get policies right. “This technology is not just about faster download speeds,” he said. Fifth generation “has the potential to increase competition in the broadband market, expand Internet access -- including through new, fixed wireless offerings -- and connect billions of devices. 5G networks could also transform entire industries -- with use cases ranging from self-driving vehicles to new telehealth applications,” he said. Unemployment is low in Mississippi but more could be done, Carr told a Mississippi radio station, and broadband buildout is the top issue facing the FCC. “A tremendous amount of rural communities” have been “left behind,” he said. USF is going to be important in many parts of rural America, he said: “There’s not going to be a private sector business for deploying broadband in a lot of these communities.” Carr said he was in Colorado last week (see 1802150018) and spoke to a broadband provider with more buffalo than people in his service territory.
Cell Detect didn’t attend a meeting with Chairman Ajit Pai on contraband cellphones in correctional facilities (see 1802140032).
The iPhone captured a record 51 percent share of global smartphone factory revenue in Q4, with Samsung second at 15.7 percent, Strategy Analytics reported Thursday. SA estimates global revenue climbed 8 percent to an all-time-high of $120 billion. Average selling prices surged 18 percent to $300: “The smartphone industry has managed to increase massively its pricing and revenues, despite a recent decrease in shipment volumes.”
T-Mobile ranks highest in overall satisfaction among wireless full-service carriers with an 855 score of 1,000, compared with 839 for AT&T, 833 for Verizon and 819 for Sprint, J.D. Power reported Thursday. Consumer satisfaction in smartphone purchases is highest among customers who accessed an online sales channel via a smartphone, it said about data from a July-December survey of 13,344 customers who had made a sales transaction with their current carrier within the previous three months.
Sony Mobile Communications applied Feb. 7 to trademark a “3D” logo for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and other products, show Patent and Trademark Office records (here and here). Components supplier Himax said Tuesday it’s working through its collaboration with Qualcomm with top Android smartphone makers with the goal of launching 3D sensing on premium handset models (see 1802140030). Himax and Sony representatives didn’t comment Thursday.
The FCC notified Victor Rosario, of Brooklyn, New York, of potential penalties because a Bitcoin mining device traced to his home allegedly interferes with T-Mobile’s 700 MHz network. A miner is a device used to verify such transactions. “The Antminer s5 Bitcoin Miner in use at your residence is causing harmful interference to T-Mobile’s operation,” said a notice to Rosario. “Continued operation of this device that causes harmful interference after your receipt of this warning constitutes a violation … and could subject the operator to severe penalties, including ... substantial monetary fines, in rem arrest action to seize the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment.” The letter asks for answers to questions including whether the device remains in use. Rosario didn't comment.
Himax is working with Android smartphone makers to launch 3D sensing on “premium” handsets, said Jordan Wu, CEO of the display imaging components supplier. Himax thinks 3D sensing “can have a broad range of applications” in virtual reality, face recognition, IoT and robotics, he told investors Tuesday. Collaboration between Himax and Qualcomm, announced in August, yielded “the only solution to offer face recognition for secure online payment, a must-have feature for high-end smartphones of the future,” said Wu. Development of a stereoscopic 3D sensing “total solution” for face recognition and 3D in smartphones is underway, said Wu.
Qualcomm unveiled IoT security products that it said securely provision, connect and manage long life cycles of billions of intelligent wireless devices through cloud platforms. Security is rooted in the chipset hardware, which will help enterprise, industrial cloud providers and users provision and manage large amounts of connected 4G and 5G devices in a “trusted, security-rich and scalable manner,” it said Wednesday. The services also support a new chipsets-as-a-service business model, the tech/IP company said.